Morgun í mars / Video // Guðrið Helmsdal

Morning in March

Morning

in March

My heart

an oystercatcher

Flying

to you

Morgun í mars

Morgun 

í mars

Hjartað

eitt tjaldur

Flýgur

til tín

Morgen i marts

Morgen

i marts

Hjertet

en strandskade

Flyver

til dig

Danish translation by Guðrið Helmsdal

English translation by Randi Ward

Author portrait photo: Randi Ward

Bio blurb:

Guðrið Helmsdal was born in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, in 1941. She became the first Faroese woman to publish a volume of poetry written in the Faroese language when her book, Lýtt lot, appeared in 1963. Her debut collection’s uncanny precision of image, and shift to a more personal poetics, signaled a modernist breakthrough in Faroese literature. When Helmsdal received the M.A. Jacobsen Literature Award in 1974, the Faroese committee wrote: “Lýtt lot and Morgun í mars have opened a new chapter in Faroese literary history by blazing a trail for women’s literature in the Faroe Islands”. Guðrið Helmsdal’s most recent bilingual collection, Stjørnuakrar-Sternenfelder, was published in Germany in 2006.

Video:

Helmsdal’s poem, «Morgun í Mars,»  serves as the refrain for this song of the same name by Faroese singer-songwriter Guðrið Hansdóttir. «Morgun í Mars» was released on Hansdóttir’s album, Beyond The Grey (2011).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42XEl5w2QSY
Music: Guðrið Hansdóttir Lyrics: Guðrið Hansdóttir, Guðrið Helmsdal, Randi Ward